What Walter Van Beirendonck is known for
Belgian designer and Antwerp Six member (b. 1957, Royal Academy Antwerp 1980); ran his own label from 1983 and the cult W< (Wild & Lethal Trash) line from 1993 to 1999.
Walter Van Beirendonck was born in 1957 and graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 1980. He began showing his own collections in 1983 and, in 1987, presented in London alongside Dirk Van Saene, Dries Van Noten, Ann Demeulemeester, Marina Yee and Dirk Bikkembergs — the group that became known as the Antwerp Six, which put the city's fashion school on the international map.
In 1993 Van Beirendonck launched a second label, W< — short for Wild & Lethal Trash — built around graphic prints, saturated color and cartoon imagery, a sharper contrast to the more subdued tailoring associated with his Royal Academy peers. W< ran for six seasons before folding in 1999, after which Van Beirendonck concentrated on his eponymous line.
He has also taught for decades at his alma mater, shaping successive generations of Antwerp-trained designers, and continues to run his own label from Antwerp today.
In the press
- Vogue 2014
How ORBIS reads this city
Best for — Theatrical avant-garde
Belgium
More in Antwerp
- Ann Demeulemeester — Antwerp
- Christian Wijnants — Antwerp
- Dirk Bikkembergs — Antwerp
- Dirk Van Saene — Antwerp
- Dries Van Noten — Antwerp
- Essentiel Antwerp — Antwerp
- Marina Yee — Antwerp
- Kipling — Antwerp
Where next
- Ann Demeulemeester — Antwerp
- Christian Wijnants — Antwerp
- Dirk Bikkembergs — Antwerp
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